Semiconductor chips are normally packaged in a protective layer or layers to protect the chip and its wire bonds from atmospheric and mechanical damage. Existing packaging systems typically use epoxy molding and thermal curing to create a solid protective layer around the chip. This is normally carried out on individually diced chips bonded to lead frames and so must be done many times for each wafer. Alternative methods of packaging include hermetically sealed metal or ceramic packages, and array packages such as ball grid array (BGA) and pin grid array (PGA) packages. Recently wafer scale packaging (WSP) has started to be used. This is carried out at the wafer stage before the chips are separated. The use of molding and curing techniques subjects the wafer to both mechanical and thermal stresses. In addition the protective cap so formed is a solid piece of material and so cannot be used for MEMS devices, since the MEMS device would be rendered inoperable by the polymer material. Existing packaging systems for MEMS devices include thematically sealed packages for individual devices, or use silicon or glass wafer scale packaging, both of which are relatively high cost operation.
Devices which incorporate optically active devices, such as light emitting devices or photoreceptors, also require a cap with at least a portion of the cap transparent to the relative light. The caps also frequently require a lens to focus light passing through the cap and so the epoxy molding techniques cannot be used. The devices are typically packaged individually or use silicon or glass wafer scale packaging.